Pfizer completed its $67 billion acquisition of one-time-competitor Wyeth Pharmaceuticals on October 15, just one in a string of recent mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry. (Think Merck’s November 3 merger with Schering-Plough and Genentech’s March 26 deal with Roche.) According to a variety of sources, plans are already in place to merge the companies’ meetings teams, but Pfizer representatives are staying very closelipped about the process, and so far, there are more questions than answers. Here’s what we know so far.

The Financial & Insurance Conference Planners Annual Conference opened this week at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel with a general session that looked at the effects of the long recession on both sides of the meetings business.

The big applause line came from Bill Kavanaugh, senior vice president, Securian Financial, who said, “We canceled no trips in 2009.”

Kavanaugh and Thomas Storey, president, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, sat down with Geoffrey Colvin, senior editor-at-large, Fortune magazine, for an open and compelling discussion of how the economic chaos of the past 18 months has affected their respective industries—and where we all go from here.

Here’s a wrap-up.

When Brooke Sommers, CMP, CMM, decided to leave her position as manager of events, sales operations for Sun Microsystems in Louisville, Colo., last June after 12 years with the company, she was starting her job search at one of the hardest times to be unemployed in decades. But Sommers knew a thing or two about networking. Her new best friend? Social media tools. Here’s the story of Sommers and others who have successfully worked the online networks to find a job—and a roundup of best practices for making it work for you, too.

International meeting planners: No passport required for MeetingsNet’s intensive, two-webinar education happening tomorrow, November 18. Choose one or both of our free, one-hour webinars: The first one, on launching an international association meeting, starts at 12 p.m. EST, and the second, on 20 cost-saving strategies for international programs, follows at 1:15 p.m.

Join four meeting industry pros with dozens of years of international experience between them for a lively two hours: Karen J. Malone, vice president, meeting services, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society; Peter Turner, business development director—U.S. Association Market, MCI Institution Division; Agnès Canonica, CMP, CMM, director–international services, Meetings & Incentives; and Idoia Rodés, CMM, managing director, MCI Brussels and Amsterdam.
Learn more and register.

It was launched at a face-to-face meeting, but built its momentum through a two-day online rally that attracted a small wave of attention from across North America and beyond.

With a clever mix of communication and outreach tools, the Canadian Stem Cell Foundation’s Stem Cell Charter is a learning opportunity for meeting professionals. It’s a Web-based, interactive document that affirms stem cell research and invites viewers to pledge their support for responsible stem cell science. While our industry debates the trade-offs between live and virtual events, the Canadian foundation is promoting the Charter with a marketing strategy that combines both. More.